This morning's text is Luke 1:39-56.
39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.42In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Mary’s Song
46And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
56Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
It is tempting to read these passages and wonder why God chose these women for these roles. The Almighty's ways are past our understanding. Truly, wondering such things is to some extent a distraction; Luke does not reveal all. We can look at these women and draw some conclusions, being careful not to read into the text things that are not there. We will do that in more depth in tomorrow's post. But, here is the take-away for today.
God chose these women to fulfill His purposes because He knows all and because He created them for these. But don't miss this: He was able to work through them because in both cases their responses were submission and worship. Each of them could have responded to her calling so differently!
Do you feel special? In God's eyes, you are!
"Oh, you don't know....I am the worst of sinners", you say.
And, I say to you:
God created you with all of your gifts and your struggles to glorify Him. The question is: will you?
We admire Elizabeth and Mary and marvel at the roles that they were given, but don't you understand that they could have refused to give God glory in their situations?
I read a quote on FB (Facebook) yesterday that was sobering....and true. Here it is:
"You cannot save everyone. Some people are going to destroy themselves no matter how much you try to help them." Bryant McGill
There's a whole blog post in that quote, but I mention it here to emphasize that God has given each of us free will.
So, let's focus on our own callings today and ponder not only the callings of Elizabeth and Mary, but their responses. Their answers were "yes".
What is God calling you to today? Is He asking you to do something difficult, out of your comfort zone, something that requires..... faith? Glory be! Is He asking you to "walk by faith", to trust Him when you cannot "see"? Imagine that.... ;)
What will be your answer?
"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are."
1 John 3:1
Oh my precious Lord....sometimes I find it hard to breathe. Sometimes, your calling seems "too much", and I have to just force myself to "breathe out, breathe in". At those times, I'm reminded to take great big gulps of You, to ask Your Holy Spirit to fill me "to the uttermost". Help every single one of us no matter what our circumstances to "breathe" You in today, and to embrace the love You have for us today by responding as Elizabeth and Mary did . . . by magnifying You, giving You the glory.... saying, "YES!" In Jesus' name, amen.
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